Respect for our military

This is from David Asman, on FOX News' Asman Observer. It needs no commentary.

More Than Support, the Troops Deserve Our Respect
Tuesday , May 29, 2007
By David Asman

Memorial Day got me thinking: There's been a lot of talk recently about supporting the troops. You hear it from all the candidates and all the pundits.

But talk is cheap. There are no words that can compare to sending your son or daughter off to war. The only word that comes close is "respect."

Seven years ago, on the night of his 19th birthday, I stood at the door to say goodbye to my stepson, who was heading off to join the Marines. I still wasn't sure he knew what he was getting himself into. Like a lot of families with teenagers, we'd been through some rough times: a lot of lectures from me about responsibility and discipline, a lot of eye rolling from him. Not a lot of mutual respect or tenderness.

So when Felipe looked me square in the face and told me he loved me before heading off to boot camp, I was shocked. It wasn't just that I hadn't heard it from him in years. It was that this was an expression of love from a man who had a full measure of its meaning.

I realized then that he knew exactly what he had committed himself to and deserved my full respect for his decision.

Respect.

I know it's still just a word. But it means a lot more to me than hollow talk about "support." Kids deserve our support, not necessarily our respect. But these are not kids. These are men and women who know exactly what they're doing. They've made a decision to risk their life for our country.

[QUOTE=HotTrotter;817176]Because if you don't support the job I am doing then you don't support me. How hard is that to understand? Let me try it another way. If you don't like what I am doing then you don't like me. [/QUOTEYep, You CANNOT support the troops but not what thier doing. You cant have it both ways. If you're going to support the troops the support thier mission.

Oh be CAREFUL. We all know what happens when you show love for our country and respect for its military. Telling some people you can’t have it both ways, well that is a dose of reality they don’t need. TL

Oh be CAREFUL. We all know what happens when you show love for our country and respect for its military. Telling some people you can’t have it both ways, well that is a dose of reality they don’t need. TL

I had never seen so many Canadian flags along Highway 401. From Trenton to Toronto, each and every overpass along the 170-kilometre route was adorned with Canadian flags, large and small. Some people attached a Maple Leaf to a wooden stick and waved it vigorously from side to side; others lowered the flag in a sombre salute for a solemn occasion.

This was the eight-vehicle repatriation cortčge of Corporal Matthew McCully, the young Canadian soldier killed on patrol in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb last week. We had just observed the return of Corp. McCully's remains on the tarmac at the airbase in Trenton and were now on our way to the coroner's office in Toronto.

Riding in a sleek black limousine with Corp. McCully's family, I was an escort officer assigned to the team assisting his family through this week's arduous journey. As we left the airbase and drove onto the busy highway, family members were still reeling from the gut-wrenching experience of seeing the flag-draped casket carried away from the airbus by his young comrades.

Many of them were in tears as they marched toward the hearse. The air inside our limousine was thick with emotion as we sat in silence contemplating the ceremony that had unfolded before our eyes. After the Ontario Provincial Police led us away from the terminal, our attention was quickly drawn to several dozen people lining the streets of Trenton, many holding bouquets of flowers amid the dozens of flags fluttering in the wind. Several oncoming cars pulled over to the side of the road, their occupants getting out and standing to the side.

It wasn't until we were driving under the first few highway overpasses that we took notice of every bridge: Each was lined with more and more people, and as we drew closer to them, the people waved their flags more briskly so we could appreciate the scale of their salute. As we reached Toronto, the crowds were still lined up on each overpass and our drivers, by this time well practised in their response, slowed the limousines to acknowledge the demonstrations.

Accompanying those special flag-bearers were hundreds of police officers, firefighters and ambulance service workers. With their vehicles parked in single file atop each overpass, sirens ringing and lights flashing, those proud men and women snapped such an impressive salute that it brought tears to the eyes for all who sat inside the limousine. The police officers who couldn't fit on the overpasses moved their cruisers into an extended line along each exit ramp, blocking oncoming traffic as they formed up on the roadside to salute.

Mesmerized by this tremendous demonstration of support, the family sat in quiet disbelief, seeing a ray of hope as they witnessed their fellow citizens sharing their pain.

I didn't know Corp. McCully. And little did I know this duty would absorb so much more of me and my colleague, Capt. James Lindsay, when we were assigned this detail last Friday. Yet, in the few short days that we have been with Corp. McCully's family, we have grown as close to them as though they were our own kith and kin. We have come to know him through their memories and their emotional highs and lows.

The overwhelming intensity of their loss has shown us how frail the human condition can be but, it has also shown how much strength Corp. McCully's family has drawn from the hundreds of Canadians on the highway last Tuesday. The family wishes to publicly thank all of you who stood waving to their son.

Corp. McCully will be laid to rest with full military honours this morning in his hometown of Orangeville, Ont. Please bring your flag to Tweedsmuir Memorial Church at 11:00 a.m.

I'm sorry, but I happen to take pride in the work I do. So when someone tells me they don't like the work I'm doing then that tells me they don's supprot me. You cna't have it both ways. You either support me and the work I do or you don't

It has never been the prerogative of the soldier to choose the war, or police action, or peace keeping mission, or humanitarian aid mission that goes horribly wrong.

It is the prerogative of the citizenry to support or oppose the above mentioned military actions.

It is the duty of the citizenry to support the members of our military. We owe them everything and have treated some of them horribly as a consequence of the military action they were involved in being unpopular.

I have instilled in my children that we owe respect and appreciation to our military because the freedoms we enjoy every day were paid for us by the bravery and blood and the very lives of our military men and women.

Even though this is going to come from a Soldier's perspective, what FyredUp says is all too true.

In real short words, you don't have to support your government for making dumb political choices (and I am referring to ANY country's government, in any language) or choice to fight battles in faraway lands. But whether you agree with the policy or not, belive in and respect your soldiers, and the job they do. For better or for worse, they are still your sons, daughters, neices, nefews or grandchildren. And a Family Blood bond is still a Family Blood bond. No matter what. {No matter how dysfunctional we might be some days}

Ladies and gents I think what they mean why they say “I don’t support the war but support the troops” is that they may not agree with the war but they are willing to support the people fighting it. Back during the worst part of Vietnam no one supported the troops or the war and we all saw the out come of that. At least now people support the troops by not treating the Iraq vets the same way the Nam vets were treated. Although I have been “confronted” to put it nicely, and talked down to, about, spit a pond, bla, bla, bla because im a “Baby killer in an illegal war”.

I could care less either way, it’s their choice. But if you disrespect me because I was in Iraq be prepared to be disrespected. Maybe with words maybe with fits, either way don’t think im tucking tail and running.

Ladies and gents I think what they mean why they say “I don’t support the war but support the troops” is that they may not agree with the war but they are willing to support the people fighting it. Back during the worst part of Vietnam no one supported the troops or the war and we all saw the out come of that. At least now people support the troops by not treating the Iraq vets the same way the Nam vets were treated. Although I have been “confronted” to put it nicely, and talked down to, about, spit a pond, bla, bla, bla because im a “Baby killer in an illegal war”.

I could care less either way, it’s their choice. But if you disrespect me because I was in Iraq be prepared to be disrespected. Maybe with words maybe with fits, either way don’t think im tucking tail and running.

But I did see David Asman on FOX that day and I agree 100%.

Well as someone who did their time I can tell you it is demoralizing when you hear people telling you they don't approve of the job you are doing. But hey "don't take it personally". If you support me then you need to support the work I do. It's that simple. Of course, these are the thoughts from the trenches, not the local country club.

I'm sorry, but I happen to take pride in the work I do. So when someone tells me they don't like the work I'm doing then that tells me they don's supprot me. You cna't have it both ways. You either support me and the work I do or you don't

This has made the top of my list titled "the most moronic thing I have read this month"

This has made the top of my list titled "the most moronic thing I have read this month"

Same here. I keep asking why it was okay for conservatives to criticize the mission and policies of the administration in the 90's when there were troops in harm's way without outrages of demoralizing the troops or cries of treason.

I don't support the buffoons who think they know how to run it, ie. Bush, Cheney et al. The Generals given the task of prosecuting the war didn't have the manpower or equipment they needed.. remember Rumsfeld's "You go to war with the army you have, not the one you wish you had"?

Where are the insurgents getting all of their weaponry? Some may say Iran, Syria.. but the Iraqi Miltary armories were ransacked because we did not have enough personnel to secure them in the first place.

We secured the no fly zone from 1991 until 2002... why can't the borders be patrolled now? A few Predators with with infrared capability shouldbe able handle that problem.

George '41 knew what would happen. At the time of Desert Storm, he was chastised for giving up after Kuwait was liberated. In hindsight, his decision was brilliant.

The present Administration obviously didn't learn from history... it's like Vietnam all over again, just replace jungle with sand, Bhuddism with Islam...

‎"The education of a firefighter and the continued education of a firefighter is what makes "real" firefighters. Continuous skill development is the core of progressive firefighting. We learn by doing and doing it again and again, both on the training ground and the fireground."
Lt. Ray McCormack, FDNY

Same here. I keep asking why it was okay for conservatives to criticize the mission and policies of the administration in the 90's when there were troops in harm's way without outrages of demoralizing the troops or cries of treason.

I think I have it figured out.

GOP criticism of a Dem wartime Prez: Passionate discourse.

Dem criticism of a GOP wartime Prez: Traitors.

Sorry Trotter. It is your side who wants it both ways.

SC,

I agree with you here. Playing politics with boots on the ground disgusts me and is wrong.